CHAPTER 002
KEISHA'S POV
What the hell? My jaw dropped, staring at Alpha Alan frantically trying to salvage the compromising position I just caught him in— his shirt halfway down his arms, his back slick with sweat, standing in between Aurora’s wide spread legs wrapped around him.
Alpha Alan shrugged off Aurora. His face instantly lost all color, as if he had encountered a horror from his past. The smile on Aurora's face disappeared the moment she saw me.
“What…What are you doing here Keisha? And what happened to you? How…How did you…” His brows creased as he stuttered. “You are not meant to be here. I mean, this is the vip,” He asked, pulling his shirt over his body.
“Yeah!” My lips quaked. “Because I'm a lowlife right? A good-for-nothing piece of shit,” I whimpered, shifting my gaze to Aurora. “Or perhaps, a pawn in the game,” my body trembled as I growled, my chest tightened with betrayal.
“Look Keisha, I promise. It's not what you think. Aurora and I were just…”
“...were just having a good time which you rudely interrupted!” Aurora cut in with a sneer, hopping down from the desk where she sat.
“Keisha, Keisha, Keisha!” Aurora marched slowly towards me with a smirk, circling me like a predator over its prey. “You know it's crazy how you think that by some sort of bond or perhaps, should I say luck? You somehow think that someday you'd become Luna of the Nightbane pack?” Aurora queried, bursting into dry laughter.
I wished someone could tell me this was a bad dream— that it wasn't real. But sadly, it was. I just caught my mate fucking my best friend and she looks me in the eyes and dares me. The truth is, I can't do anything about it. I folded my fingers into a fist until my nails created a half-circle mark on my palm, attempting to fight back the tears about to drop again.
Aurora and I had been inseparable since childhood. With her, I felt safe. But now, it began to make more sense the look on her face the night I informed her of my mate's bond with Alpha Alan. The snapped waist bead I found in Alan's art studio the night I saw her frolicking with him in the pretense of drawing. Tears fell from my eyes like waterfalls.
“Why would you do this to me, Aurora? You betrayed me!” My chest tightened as I spoke almost inaudibly. “We were sisters and we promised to…”
“Zip it!” She barked, halting my statement. Disdain dripped from her tone but I didn't care anymore.
“Do not shut me up, Aurora,” I retorted, my vision blurring with tears. “I trusted you! I trusted you both,” I pointed to her face before shifting my gaze to Alan who stood with his jaw dropped but no word to say. “My virginity…you…you took it and you promised you won't leave me. You blessed the moon goddess each day for mating me with you. And, now you do this?”
“Oh sweetie,” Aurora cooed mockingly, leaning close so her breath ghosted my cheek. “This world doesn’t run on trust. It runs on bloodlines, power, and names that matter. And yours held no water. So, quit the drama and leave this minute before I call the guards on you,” Aurora growled in my face. Her tone, laced with venom that neutralized me.
“Aurora! Enough!” Alan barked, calling Aurora to order. I startled, bowing my head. Chills running down my spine.
“Why? Because I’m telling her the truth?” Aurora snapped, before turning back to me. “He was never going to choose you, Keisha. The council would’ve laughed in his face if he’d presented a bruised omega with no pedigree as Luna. You think an Alpha’s seat is a love story?”
She tilted her head with a bitter smile. “No, darling. It’s a throne. And thrones don’t welcome servants.”
Each word stabbed deeper than the last. My wolf, Lumis, whimpered quietly in the back of my mind, too wounded to speak. Alan stepped forward, dragging a hand through his hair, the muscle around his jaw twitched. I had hoped he had something tangible to say— perhaps, tell me this was a prank but it wasn't.
“Keisha, you're hurt but I'm sorry, pick your things and leave this minute. Go home! Fix yourself. I cannot afford to have your blood smearing my expensive interior decorations,” he bellowed, yet avoiding eye contact with me.
“Really?” I queried in disbelief, but this was already a lost cause.
I stumbled backwards in jelly legs. My vision blurred. My chest caved as though something had been ripped from it, blood dripping from the cut on my arm as I walked out.
“Hey!” Aurora called back. “And who do you expect to clean up this mess you made on the floor with your blood or do you want me to mop it with your hair?” she growled, veins bulging from her neck.
Deep inside her eye, I could see the satisfaction my pain brought her while Alan stood, gripped with guilt yet kept a cold demeanor devoid of sympathy.
“I’m sorry ma’am,” I leaned in a bow, my ribs burning from the fall at the party as I knelt over cleaning the bloodstains.
“Alan honey,” Aurora cooed in a sluttery manner. “I’d be heading back to the party now. I guess I’d see you later tonight when we won’t have to be interrupted by any nuisance,” She sneered, kissing Alan. She made sure it was slurpy- loud enough to taunt me.
My tears became the water I needed to mop the floor clean. When they both left, I wept so much my eyes burned like acid.
“Keisha,” Lumis called to me. “Do not tell me you intend to go back to the party after this,” she whimpered in concern.
“So I can be humiliated more than I have been?” I retorted, sobbing. Lumis understood I was hurt and kept quiet.
I flung the stained rag into the trash can, bound my injury with a gauze, threw on a new cloth, and exited the estate from the back door.
“What the hell happened to you?” My father, Mr. Rhodes, queried. His forehead folded into layers at the sight of the bloodstain on my shirt as I barged into our small house situated at the end of town.
Barry, my pet cat meowed, running over the stack of undone dishes I left for a couple of days in the kitchen, because of this stupid birthday preparation. Ignoring everything, I scoffed, heading to my room.
“Come on honey, talk to me, what happened?” He persisted.
My heart twisted with anger, looking for where to transfer my aggression. I stopped midway up the stairs. My nose flared in rhythm with my heartbeat. My grip tightened around the handrail when I spun around breathing fire like a dragon.
“Leave me the hell alone!” I trembled as I barked, tears gathering in my eyes again.
“Why would I wanna do that honey? You're all I've got and I can't be comfortable seeing you in this much pain,” my dad ran his eyes from my head to my toes. “Please baby, talk to me?”
Ever since my mother died when I was two, my dad had been my everything— juggling different jobs, just to give me the best. Currently working as a janitor at the Walker's group of companies, my biggest wish was to someday give him the life he deserves and perhaps get him to do a knee surgery after the accident he had at his last factory job he had.
Looking into his eyes, I think I failed. The one thing I held on to had been snatched. My lips trembled as I stared blankly into his face.
“He is cheating on me,” I managed to break the ice. “I just caught Alan cheating on me with my best friend. And that is fucking what happened,” I yelled, storming my way into my room, slamming the door behind me before screaming my heart out.
“I know this is hard Keisha, but you don't have to beat yourself up. Think of it this way, what if he was just drunk and Aurora took advantage of his state? He is your mate. The moon goddess has ordained it. And from the look of things,” Lumis paused for a moment. “You beat Aurora in every aspect— physically and mentally. Sometimes I wonder why fate made her fortunate,” Lumis spat with disdain.
“Yes…but of what use is everything to me now? You saw it! He was happy. He didn't show remorse! He wanted her, Lumis! He fucking chose her!” I yelled, sending the table lamp flying across the room.
“But you are the chosen one! You are his mate! Fight for what you love or have it snatched from you right under your nose,” Lumis barked, freezing my next move.
I collapsed on my bed, tears trailing into my ear. “But… but, he…..”
“No buts!” Lumis hopped onto my bed, staring down at me. “He's your man! Quit being a sorry ass.”
While Lumis spoke, my stomach rumbled, sending the contents of my stomach up to my throat. I retched, rolling over the bed. I didn't hesitate to cra
sh into the toilet. Pulling the lid open with my face buried in it, I began to throw up.